Chương 13
Thomas said, “That should be on a mug.”
Victor looked at Anna. “Dominic contacted me.”
“When?”
“Two hours ago.”
“What did he want?”
“A meeting.”
“Why?”
“He says he has records that will implicate me and clear the employees.”
Anna’s eyes narrowed. “He could just give them to investigators.”
“He wants immunity from me.”
“What does that mean?”
“He wants to know I won’t kill him.”
Thomas muttered, “Reasonable workplace concern.”
Anna ignored him. “Will you?”
Victor did not answer quickly enough.
She stood. “Then don’t come here pretending you brought paperwork.”
“I haven’t decided.”
“You already decided once at the warehouse.”
“That was different.”
“It is always different when violence becomes convenient again.”
“He threatened your brother.”
“We don’t know that.”
“I know him.”
“You also trusted him for twenty years.”
The sentence struck cleanly.
Victor’s face went cold. “Be careful.”
Anna stepped closer. She was not fearless. He could see her pulse beating rapidly at her throat.
“No,” she said. “You be careful. You came into our room. You put our names in your box. You told me I could talk to investigators. You do not get to become terrifying only when I say something true.”
Thomas had gone very still.
Victor looked at Anna’s bare feet on the hotel carpet, at the hospital sweatshirt hanging loosely from her shoulders, at the stubborn lift of her chin. She was afraid of him and refusing to let fear make the decision.
He stood.
Anna did not step back.
“I won’t kill him,” Victor said.
“Because I asked?”
“No.”
“Why, then?”
“Because he expects me to.”
Anna studied his face. “That’s not enough.”
“It’s what I have tonight.”
Victor put on his coat and left.
The meeting with Dominic was arranged through attorneys in the private room of a closed restaurant. Nina insisted on security, recording notices, and written terms stating that attendance did not guarantee protection from prosecution. Dominic rejected the first two locations and accepted the third only after receiving photographs of every entrance.
Victor arrived unarmed.
Leo searched him twice because Nina demanded witnesses.
“You enjoying this?” Victor asked.
“No,” Leo said, though the answer came too quickly.
Dominic entered through the kitchen wearing jeans, a black sweater, and a cap pulled low. He had lost weight in ten days. A healing cut crossed one eyebrow.
He stopped when he saw Nina and two outside attorneys.
“I said private.”
“This is private,” Nina replied. “It is not stupid.”
Dominic looked at Victor’s empty hands. “You finally learned theater.”
Victor sat at the long table. “You asked for a meeting.”
Dominic placed a flash drive on the wood.
Nina did not touch it.
“What’s on it?” she asked.
“Records showing where the Lakeshore money went. Names, accounts, authorizations.”
“Copies?”
“Some.”
“Where are the originals?”
“Safe.”
Victor watched him. “What do you want?”
“A written guarantee you won’t harm me or my family.”
“I won’t give you paper.”
“Then we’re finished.”
“You already know I won’t kill you.”
Dominic smiled. “Do I?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you came.”
Dominic’s smile faded.
Victor leaned back. “If you believed I was still solving this the old way, you wouldn’t be in the same city.”
“You’ve become sentimental.”
“No. Predictable.”
Nina said, “The guarantee can be structured through counsel. Mr. Russo will agree not to direct or facilitate violence against you. That agreement does not protect you from law enforcement or civil claims.”
Dominic ignored her. “What about the money?”
“What money?” Victor asked.
“The money you stole before you discovered principles.”
Victor’s voice cooled. “Careful.”
“There it is again.” Dominic looked around the room. “All these lawyers, and he still thinks one word is a gun.”
Nina opened a folder. “Mr. Vale, the employees’ claims will be paid from frozen corporate assets under independent administration. You have no right to negotiate their restitution.”
“I built those companies.”
“You stole their identities.”
“I used what was available.”
Victor’s fingers tightened against the arm of the chair.
Dominic noticed. “You think you’re better because one of them slept in your bed.”
Victor did not move.
“She made you remember Lucia,” Dominic continued. “That’s all this is. A fever and a number.”
Nina said, “Do not discuss personal matters.”
Dominic laughed. “Personal matters built the whole operation.”
Victor’s gaze remained on him. “What does that mean?”
“You never asked where the first money came from either.”
The room changed.
Dominic sat opposite him. “Fifty-two thousand dollars. You stole it from Armand Bellini’s bookmaking room in 2010. Three days later, Bellini’s nephew found your father.”
Victor’s face went still.
“My father died in a robbery.”
“That’s what I told you.”
Victor rose.
Leo moved near the wall but did not touch him.
Dominic kept talking. “Bellini wanted the money back. Your father gave him your name. Then he begged. Bellini hit him once. He fell wrong.”
“You were there?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because I paid Bellini to leave you alone afterward.”
Victor’s chair fell behind him.
Nina stood. “This meeting is over.”
“No,” Victor said.
Dominic looked almost relieved. Years of concealed resentment had finally found air.
“I protected you,” he said. “You were nineteen, grieving, stupid, and convinced money had killed Lucia. Bellini would’ve taken your hands. I gave him the cash from my uncle’s union fund and told you I’d handled it.”
“My father?”
“I found out later.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“For sixteen years.”
“You would’ve started a war.”
“I did start a war.”
“Against the wrong people.”
Victor crossed the space between them.
Leo said, “Boss.”
Victor stopped one step from Dominic.
Dominic’s eyes glistened, though his voice remained sharp. “I spent sixteen years solving problems you created. I moved money because clean books don’t pay dirty debts. I used shell companies because your name poisoned every account. I took from employees because you never noticed them.”
“That was your choice.”
“And every body was yours?”
May you like
Victor’s face changed.
Dominic leaned forward. “You don’t get to wake up innocent because a pretty maid got sick.”
